1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for generating a combined video stream from multiple input video streams.
2. Description of the Related Art
Video playback devices, such as a digital video recorder (DVR), allow users to record a broadcasted program which may have commercials. The users may then use the DVR to play back the recorded program and forward through the commercials. In fast forward mode, the commercial may not be intelligible to the user. Advertisers of the products may pay less advertising fees for commercials that are being skipped and not observed at a fast rate. Content providers and cable companies are believed to have lost substantial revenues due to users fast forwarding through or skipping commercials in content recorded on their DVRs. Some industry members have called to remove the fast forward option from DVRs.
There is a need in the art for improved techniques to provide meaningful commercial content in an environment where users often have the capability to fast forward through commercials.